UFC/MMA Best ‘Fights Of The Year’ 2024 - Top 5 List | UFC Betting Sites

UFC 305: Gamrot v Hooker — Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Recapping the top athletes responsible for some of the most exciting and legacy-building moments of the years.

There are countless cage fights each and every weekend going on around the globe, and there’s probably a fairly equal split between the exciting and the mundane. Only an extremely small percentage will have the right combination of magic to be remembered for years and years to come. What makes up that special mix? That beauty is really in the eye of the beholder. In my book, the best possible fight will feature outrageous heart and grit, shifts in momentum, and at least some level of technical skill to boot. For example, I find 2022’s battle between Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira to be an utterly perfect viewing.

Let’s checkout 2024’s “Fights of the Year.”

5. Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree

I think a large part of what makes this one great was subverted expectations. Ahead of time, nobody really wanted the fight. Magomed Ankalaev was clearly more deserving of a title shot than Khalil Rountree, and it was a little irritating he was being strung along to deliver Pereira an easy knockout … or at least, that was the expectation.

Nobody told Rountree, apparently. He gave the champion hell for two rounds, landing big power shots and nearly blasting him with a high kick. Pereira stormed back in the third as Rountree slowed from his own pace, destroying his foe’s face with sharp jabs and ripping the gas tank further with body hooks.

The conclusion was written leading into the fourth. Rountree was too tired to stand with the heaviest handed man in MMA. Still, he fought gamely till his body failed him like an absolute warrior, a fitting end to his unlikely title bid.

4. Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier

The most attention grabbing fights are usually standup brawls. The best possible MMA fighters of all time, however, blends all the skills as the sport’s name implies, even if one man is solely focused on the defensive aspects of grappling.

Of all the fights listed, this was certainly the highest level bout. Makhachev was forced to put aside his elite wrestling for large portions of this fight and found great success in boxing up Dustin Poirier. Nobody expected it, but the Dagestani champion proved his development with brutal counter combinations and lovely takedown feints into strikes landed.

On the flip side, “The Diamond” is older now. His takedown defense hasn’t been great since his hip injuries. It hadn’t been that long since Benoit Saint Denis dominated him on the canvas for most of their fight. There was no reason to believe Poirier could stand up to Makhachev in the wrestling … but he pulled it off! Hours and hours of working with his primary training partner Mateusz Gamrot clearly paid off, because we’ve never seen Poirier defensively wrestling at such a high-level. His ability to scramble to safety allowed him to score some big connections on the feet and force his foe into a real war of attrition.

Subsequently, both men were able to really surprise one another and fans alike. The remarkable finish to cap it off — a low ankle leg whip finish into a d’arce choke — really was a spectacular cherry on top of 22+ excellent minutes of action.

3. Dan Hooker vs. Mateusz Gamrot

Subjectively, I think this might be my favorite of the lot even if it didn’t have quite as many monster moments as the two ranked above.

Hooker understood the task of how to defeat Gamrot, but that doesn’t mean it was at all easy. As the Kiwi tried to march his opponent down, he ran into numerous clean 1-2s down the pipe. Gamrot’s hands have seldom looked sharper. Knocking out “The Hangman” is damn near impossible, but Gamrot’s success with his hands allowed him entry on the hips for a strong start.

Hooker made his opponent’s life difficult by constantly working, however. If he was taken down, he was immediately trying to stand back up. If Gamrot cracked him with a punch, Hooker threw three back, made Gamrot crack him again, then threw another pair of punches. Gamrot’s speed advantage slowly dissipated as he fatigued, and Hooker started scratching and clawing himself into the fight inch by bloody inch.

There are two images that pop into my head when I think about this contest. In the first, Hooker is marching his foe towards the fence, doubling up on body hooks despite whatever comes back in his way. In the latter, Hooker has sprawled out on a shot and is delivering the nastiest elbows to the mid-section since Robbie Lawler vs. Johnny Hendricks.

Raw grit and viciousness, both scenes are perfect microcosms of the fight and Hooker’s approach to it.

2. Esteban Ribovics vs. Daniel Zellhuber

There’s nothing quite like watching two young talents beat the absolute piss out of one another is there? Ribovics and Zellhuber likely took years off each other’s careers by landing upwards of 100 significant strikes each across three violent rounds, making them the standout fight of the most opulent UFC event of the year.

Though almost entirely a stand up fight, I quite enjoyed the stylistic clash here. Long and rangy, Zellhuber was timing his opponent coming forward with crisp counters and intercepting blows. Argentina’s Ribovics wasn’t just running into his foe’s offense haphazardly though, he was doing his best to take angles and fire smart combinations. The two young talents really tested one another’s tactics and skills at a very high pace, and it all came to a boil in round three.

Zellhuber began the third frame by flooring Ribovics with a lovely elbow counter. It seemed like the beginning of the end, but instead, Ribovics got right back up and stunned his opponent instead! He emptied the gas tank, pouring on dozens of punches in an attempt to force the finish. Miraculously, both men were still standing after all the chaos, and Ribovics’ third-round barrage earned him the split-decision win.

1. Myktybek Orolbai vs. Mateusz Rebecki

Do you have any idea how good a fight has to be to take place on the undercard of a Max Holloway vs. Ilia Topuria pay-per-view (PPV) and still walk away with “Fight of the Night” honors? On paper, Orolbai vs. Rebecki was just another clash of quality Lightweight prospects. It’s a talent-rich division, so that happens every few weeks.

Orolbai was expected to work over Rebecki, who was underrated after an upset loss to Carlos Diego Ferreira erased (in the minds of fans at least) an excellent 16-fight win streak that lasted nearly a decade. The Polish fighter wasn’t quite so down on himself, starting off the fight by blasting Orolbai with countless left hands. The Kyrgyz fighter tanked the punishment without flinching, though his eye was utterly destroyed in the process.

That’s really the thing about this fight: the violence was dialed up to 11. All of the match ups mentioned on this article feature great shifts in momentum and great technique, but this one felt comparably more brutal than all the rest. Like Ribovics vs. Zellhuber, the third round will go down as one of the most chaotic five minute periods in MMA history, as Rebecki and Orolbai savaged each other in an incredible display of grit.

Go rewatch it.

Honorable Mentions

Royval vs. Taira
Yan vs. Yadong
Adesanya vs. Du Plessis
Moicano vs. Turner
Topuria vs. Holloway

Best Submissions 2024 | Best KOs 2024 | Best Fights 2024 | Best Fighters 2024 | Best Events 2024